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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is to find your people. If you want

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Speaker 1: to make progress toward your goals, you can find or

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Speaker 1: create a group with similar aspirations and that can help

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Speaker 1: you stay on track. In an earlier episode this week,

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Speaker 1: I describe the benefits of having a goal group. The

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Speaker 1: social aspect makes goal directed behavior more fun. When we

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Speaker 1: schedule things, we tend to do them, and group activities

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Speaker 1: tend to involve scheduling. A group also provides accountability to

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Speaker 1: ensure you make progress. Of course, wanting to achieve a

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Speaker 1: goal as a group and actually becoming part of such

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Speaker 1: a group are two entirely different things. Especially these days,

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Speaker 1: connecting with people can be a little more challenging, but

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Speaker 1: don't worry. Your people are out there. You can find

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Speaker 1: them when you've identified your specific goal. The first step

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Speaker 1: to finding a group is too well. Ask tell friends,

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Speaker 1: family members, colleagues that you are looking for some folks

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Speaker 1: to help you write that novel, train for a marathon,

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Speaker 1: get out of debt, or change careers. Post your question

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Speaker 1: on social media and you might be directed to various

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Speaker 1: groups oriented to these purposes. Not all of them are

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Speaker 1: going to be great, but you might be able to

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Speaker 1: study the options and see which best match your style.

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Speaker 1: You might also go where the groups might be. Bookstores

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Speaker 1: might sponsor book clubs, or clubs looking for new members

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Speaker 1: might post flyers there that you can see. Libraries might

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Speaker 1: sponsor various groups or have information from community groups on

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Speaker 1: display the staff and also direct you. An athletics store

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Speaker 1: might sponsor or recommend running or cycling groups. An outdoor

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Speaker 1: store can connect you with hiking or kayaking groups. Your

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Speaker 1: house of worship might be a source of all sorts

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Speaker 1: of group activity too, and anyone who is well connected,

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Speaker 1: such as say a pastor, might be able to put

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Speaker 1: you in touch with other people aiming in similar directions.

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Speaker 1: Small and local is great, but don't discount massive group

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Speaker 1: efforts either. Thousands of folks participate in the National Novel

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Speaker 1: Writing Month challenge and write a fifty thousand word novel

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Speaker 1: draft in November. Vast quantities of people also stop drinking

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Speaker 1: during dry January. Even if you're not part of a

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Speaker 1: small group, you can take motivation from the fact that

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Speaker 1: many other people are doing the same thing at the

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Speaker 1: same time of course, you can start groups yourself too.

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Speaker 1: This is pretty much the best way to ensure that

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Speaker 1: the group you wind up being part of matches your style.

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Speaker 1: You don't have to know a ton of people with

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Speaker 1: similar goals. You really just have to find one or

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Speaker 1: two and then ask them to tap their networks as

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Speaker 1: well until you reach a good size of committed people.

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Speaker 1: I took this approach for creating a writing strategy group

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Speaker 1: a few years ago. I wanted to feel like I

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Speaker 1: had a few more colleagues in this business, so I

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Speaker 1: asked some people I knew who had similar business models

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Speaker 1: to mine if they'd like to join. We now meet

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Speaker 1: every month by video chat. We send our questions around

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Speaker 1: beforehand and discussed strategy for a few minutes apiece. The

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Speaker 1: upside of video chat, of course, is that you can

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Speaker 1: convene people from anywhere, and that's really a good thing.

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Speaker 1: The pandemic has taught us that meeting face to face

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Speaker 1: isn't the only way to do business. Getting together as

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Speaker 1: a group is probably easier. When you don't have to

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Speaker 1: travel anywhere. You can spend less time on logistics and

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Speaker 1: more time focused on your goals. Consistency is key. Come

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Speaker 1: up with a regular routine for checking in with each other.

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Speaker 1: This can be as formal or informal as you wish.

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Speaker 1: A group text could suffice for people working on cooking more.

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Speaker 1: Instead of ordering takeout, you send each other photos of

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Speaker 1: your creations, which is great for inspiration and accountability. You

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Speaker 1: could email a writing group your word count each day,

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Speaker 1: or send your running group a screenshot of your workouts.

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Speaker 1: Just knowing that your friends are expecting news of your

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Speaker 1: accomplishments can fuel you for that next sprint, and if

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Speaker 1: you need help or encouragement, you know that they are

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Speaker 1: just a text away. If you are part of a

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Speaker 1: goal group, I'd love to hear about how you found

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Speaker 1: or started your group and how you support each other.

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Speaker 1: We might be able to use this as part of

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Speaker 1: some future episodes. You can reach me at Laura at

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Speaker 1: Laura Vanderkam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.

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Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and here's to making the most of

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Speaker 1: our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear from you.

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Speaker 1: You can send me your tips, your questions, or anything else.

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Speaker 1: Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the number four then

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Speaker 1: Breakfast p O d. You can also shoot me an

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Speaker 1: email at before Breakfast podcast at i heeart media dot

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Speaker 1: com that Before Breakfast is spelled out with all the letters.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much, I look forward to staying in touch.

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Speaker 1: Before Breakfast is a production of I heart Radio. For

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Speaker 1: more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the i heart

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